My first Public Reading! Part 2

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Tina

16 of us would be completing and going through commencement this term. The first eight went on June 20. The second group of eight (my team) would go on June 21. I was third in line and before we started, my fourth-term mentor (my professor during my thesis term) approached me and asked what I would be reading. I told her a scene from my second chapter. She wished me luck and went to her seat.

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Tina

When it was my turn, I made sure my bookmarks were in place of where I would start and end. I had written my introduction and binder-clipped it to the front. I had practiced my ten minutes down to eight. This would give me enough time to ad-lib my thanks to my classmates and to the three mentors that were my instructors during my time in the program.

The lights were in my eyes but I decided to focus on my sheets of paper. At one point, the microphone went out -others told me they hadn't noticed and that my voice still carried to the back- and so I continued to read, making sure that my eye contact was for everyone. I had read the piece enough to smile and/or react as my characters would. I didn't mimic my two protagonists' accents or dialects but I retained their tonal inflections. 

When I ended with a 'thank you', the auditorium reacted in a way I didn't expect. There were woots, whistles and call-outs! When I returned to my seat, my fellow cohorts told me what a great job I did as well as fist-bumps and handshakes.
[Part Three in next post...]